Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Touched by an Angel from Australia....

...lookie lookie what arrived in the mail from Karen....she is the sweetest. Her blog is Sunburnt Quilts, please go and visit, she likes stitchery, teddy bears, angels just like me.  Don't forget to say Hi!.... I'd mentioned to Karen awhile ago that I was looking for 'Angel in Disguise' patterns and they are hard to find.   Karen found 'Tea with Ted', one I was looking for and she had 'Angels Stitcheries' that she said she had made a couple of times and no longer needed so she sent her pattern to me....blogging friends are the best!!!! I love the patterns Karen....thank bunches.

Angels in Disguise and Tea with Ted

'Angels in Disguise' patterns....are or were....designed by 3 Australian ladies and that is about all I know of them. Not sure what has happened with them, and I just tried their website and it says "This account has been suspended". They did have a lot of patterns....Santas, Angels, Teddy Bears etc.... on their website but were wholesale only.  They had a pattern called "Teddy Bear Picnic' so so cute.   I did a lot of web searching and found Cathron Country Designs  and Cathron Country .  Cath is one of the three ladies.   The other two ladies are Colleen and Julie. Check out Cath's blog...she has some free stitchery patterns....I luv her dolls too. 

hugs



Sunday, March 20, 2011

AQS Show, Lancaster PA

Sunday March 13th at 8 a.m.  Thelma (aka Mama Spark) and Louise (aka Quiltnqueen) leave Michigan for Lancaster PA for the AQS Quilt show...we stopped 3 times...to fill up the gas tank once , to empty the bladder twice and to check out one quilt shop on the way.  They were all quick stops, even the quilt shop.  I had made sandwiches  for lunch with veggie sticks, chips and cookies etc.  Mama Spark had her diet coke and I had my cold coffee and water....we were good.  I finished binding a coin quilt and did some embroidery while on the road.

Pam was an excellent driver and we arrived in Hershey PA at our condo around 5:30 p.m. safe and tired...no rain no snow.  During the whole trip we ate out twice.....lunch on Wednesday at the AQS show and dinner on Thursday.  The rest of the days we packed a lunch and cooked dinner when we got back to our room.... more money to spend on fabric and patterns etc.....good thinking!!

This was our kitchen.....had pretty much everything we needed....

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 174

Pam's bedroom, 2 double beds.....and a full bath

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 176

My bedroom, a king bed that I got lost in and a full bath

Bedroom Hersey PA

Once we checked in, we stayed in for the night....had a light dinner and watched some TV. Pam didn't do any sewing as she was pooped.....I did a little hand embroidery, then we were off to bed to get an early start Monday morning.

Monday morning we left for the first of many quilt shops in the area....

1st stop was in Lebanon PA at Martin's Fabric and Craft Barn.  GREAT prices and an excellent selection of fabrics, especially the Free Spirit solids  and FQ's for $1.50.... If you are ever in the area this is a fabric store well worth stopping at.

Our next stop was at the Stitch and Craft in Manheim PA. Here I got a great price on a 30's backing. She had a 2 yard and an 1.5 yard piece and she gave the two pieces to me for a steal....less than $20.00. 30's backings are not easy to find and I don't mind piecing the back. The other 30's backing was 3 yards and 1.25 yards for less than $30.00...GREAT DEAL

Our next stop was at Sylvia's in Bird in Hand and that was an excellent quilt shop too.  She had lots of quilts hanging on the lines....

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 014 Lancaster PA Trip 2011 011

We both bought some fabric and I bought FQ's at 10 for $12.95....another good deal.

Then we headed to Log Cabin Quilt Shop in Bird in Hand and  to The Quilt and Fabric Shack

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 016 Lancaster PA Trip 2011 028

I spent about $60.00 here not too bad. Not too good at the next shop which was Bitty Kinna's in Intercourse. Gina is the owner and Ellie and Dee are her side kicks. We said we were 'Thelma and Louise' and we had sEw much fun...lot of laughs by everyone, even the customers.

This is Gina, we had her laughing lots........

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 018 Lancaster PA Trip 2011 017

Gina had a 'boat load' of feed sacks on consignment.  I had Ellie put about 18 on hold for me as I wanted to call my friend Sharie to see if she wanted any....she is always looking for vintage anything.  I had to call DH to get Sharie's phone #.....YES... she wanted some so back we went Tuesday morning....bought 23 feed sacks....and to think this is how they shipped feed.  Pretty fancy feed sacks.

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...this was a great day to go to the shop as it wasn't very busy. Looks like we were the only ones in the shop but really we weren't....from there we went to Zook's Dry Goods which was also in Intercourse. 

Lancaster PA Trip 2011 023

Pretty much everything closes at 5 o'clock.  We left Zook's shortly after 5 and headed back to Hershey for the night.  Yep we did boost the PA economy on our first day... more tomorrow.

 ...hugs...



Sunday, March 13, 2011

just wanted to say....

 I'm going on vacation with Mama Spark...
...heading to the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster PA
I'll be back on Saturday March 19th

I'm having a....giveaway.... when I come back and you will luv it!!!
luv all you guys and miss you already....

hugs




Monday, March 7, 2011

Busy days....Bunny Hill Patterns and LMS Birdie BOM.......

....most afternoons I help my friend Cori at her online fabric shop filling orders. Some days I'm filling orders all afternoon but when there are no orders to fill she has had me order fabric, scan fabric to list, or input the fabric information into the listing.....I never realized just how much work is involved to have an online fabric shop. I'm loving the opportunity to learn all the areas of the business. She is the nicest person......please, if you haven't visited her shop you really should. Her shop is called Crazy Quilt Girl Quilt Shop. Her prices are excellent....if she can ship for less, she always refunds the shipping overpayment .......what she pays for shipping is what you pay....never charges a handling fee to cover the cost of the plastic bags and packing tape to ensure your fabric arrives in perfect condition...  Shipping within the United States for orders over $100.00 are shipped free.  She does ship international and goes to the post office twice a day so your order is delivered ASAP.

New fabrics such as Central Park, Fresh Flowers and Sunkissed are selling fast.....and the precuts for Lilac Hill, Dragonfly Summer. Hullabuloo and Lily & Will II are selling fast too.  New patterns have arrived and you are going to luv them...Cori just listed a number of patterns by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs featuring Lily and Will II fabrics and some of Anne's BOM.  New listings by Fig Tree were 'Chintz' and 'Kiss Me'....another new listing is 'Heaven's Door by Sweet Jane's Quilting.  Just might have to buy that pattern.

I'm using 'Dream On' for the Little Miss Shabby BOM. Little Miss Shabby is using the Sunkissed line of fabric for her BOM... I think a Sunkissed quilt is calling my name.....

If you are interested in stitching the birdie block and would like the Dream On or Sunkissed charm packs Cori has some in her shop but they are going fast.

......it's only March 7 and my 3rd LMS BOM block is finished.  I actually had it finished on March 5....

I added a little stick bush with a few shamrocks....

LMS Birdie BOM block 3

and a close up...yep I'm pretty happy with my block.

LMS Birdie BOM closeup block 3

...and ready for LTW to quilt are my DGD's twin bed quilts.....Heather Ross Mendicino fabric.....I'll take pictures after they are quilted.....

Happy stitching



Saturday, March 5, 2011

A little bit of THIS and a little bit of THAT....

....have you ever read a Chinese fortune cookie and said OMG that just happened...
a few months back my husband read his fortune cookie.

"There is someone owing so many thanks to you."

The day before DH and 2 other co-workers saved the life of another co-worker
who had collapsed at work, there was no pulse, one ran for the defibulator
while the other two did CPR and before the ambulance arrived they had a pulse.
He was rushed to hospital and had surgery within hours.
He wrote the nicest letter to all who 'saved his life'....I got the goose bumps when I read it...

...then last week I read my Chinese fortune cookie.

You will take a chance on something in the near future.

I have so many things going on right now....I'm getting giddy
as they are all to do with 'quilting'.

The first thing is.........
I just finished testing a pattern for a designer
and until the pattern is published I can't show any pictures or even blog about it.  )o:
It was my first pattern testing for me.

the second thing is........
I volunteered to stitch embroidery blocks for Helen Stubbings from Australia...
...the blocks are only 6 1/2" and a lot of detailed embroidery
and it was a bigger project than I first thought and 
 Grace and Mama Spark offered to help....the 21 blocks are finished.
There were a total of 38 but only 21 blocks were needed for the layout of the sample quilt.
The blocks are headed to Missouri to be made into a quilt top
....then the top will be sent to Australia to be quilted and bound.
Helen will be raffling the quilts to raise money for the Flood Relief Fund.
You can read about it HERE.

All the blocks have something to do with Australia......
here are a few.....

Flood Relief Fund 6-1

and 6 more blocks....

Flood Relief Fund 6-2


I should take pictures of all 21 stitched blocks.......It took me about an hour to upload 4 pictures into Flikr....it is frustrating...anyone else having problems with uploading into Flikr?

With the pattern testing done and the Australian blocks ready to send to Missouri on Monday, I  am ready to start on another group project that should be starting next week.... I'm so excited about it ....

...and to add more excitement....Mama Spark and I are hitting the road to take in the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster PA.  It is about a 7 - 8 hour drive.  We leave March 13 and come back late on the 18th.   Our DH's were to come to but mine couldn't get away due to work commitments soooo it's 2 for sure and maybe 3 girls only...
 
...and if that isn't enough.........Mama Spark and I could be flying to Spring Quilt Market in Utah.....an opportunity has come about and we sure hope we can make it work......

...and there is more but that will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday. If the snow stops flying and the roads aren't too bad DH and I are  going to the Canton Home Show tomorrow.   I have some sewing to do tomorrow and pressing of 2 twin quilt backings....UGH!! so they are ready for LTW to quilt...till tomorrow...


.....nightie night